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Monday, 22 September 2014

over 16,000 join the SNP since Thursday

The wave of democratic engagement resulting from the referendum is continuing, the SNP has said today, as 16,694 new members took the party’s total membership to 42,336 as of 4pm - closing in on the UK-wide membership of the Lib Dems, which is 43,451.

With this influx of new members joining the SNP since the referendum – many of them from Labour’s heartlands – the Westminster establishment now face serious pressure to deliver on the substantial new powers for Scotland which the No camp promised during the campaign.

Commenting, SNP Business Convener Derek Mackay MSP said: "Scotland’s referendum was an incredible triumph of democracy – and the new wave of democratic engagement and activism the Yes campaign inspired shows no signs of stopping. That nearly 17,000 new members have joined the SNP in the last few days – taking the party’s membership to over 42,000 – is incredibly encouraging and confirms that it is the SNP that the people of Scotland trust to work in Scotland’s best interests."

"This was reinforced by the Survation poll carried out immediately after the referendum which put SNP support at 49 per cent for a Scottish Parliament election - 4 points up even on our 2011 landslide vote. As Labour meets in Manchester, their position in Scotland grows more and more precarious. With nearly 17,000 new members joining the SNP – and Labour’s heartlands voting Yes in the referendum – the Labour leadership will be increasingly worried. Ordinary Labour voters simply won’t forget Johann Lamont’s alliance with the Tories in the No campaign."

"It is this new wave of democratic engagement which will hold the Westminster establishment to account on their vow of more powers for Scotland - people simply won’t accept the same old politics as usual from Westminster. Anything less than the substantial powers we need to make Scotland a fairer, more prosperous place would be an insult to this new movement. Westminster has to deliver – or the No parties will face the consequences at the ballot box."